The present invention relates to interactive voice response systems.
Businesses and other organizations sometimes use interactive voice response (IVR) systems, also known as intelligent voice response systems, to field various types of calls, for example calls from customers. An IVR system allows customers to interact with a company's host system via voice or multi-frequency signaling inputs (e.g., Touch-Tone), after which they can service their own inquiries by following an IVR dialogue presented by the IVR system. IVR systems can respond with prerecorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR applications can be used to control functions where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple interactions. IVR systems deployed in a network typically are sized to handle large call volumes.
IVR systems are typically intended to reduce cost and improve customer experience. Examples of typical IVR applications are telephone banking systems, credit card services, customer contact systems, and the like. Further, companies also use IVR services to extend their business service hours. The use of IVR allows callers' queries to be resolved without the need for queueing and incurring the cost of a live agent. If callers do not find the information they need or require further assistance, then their calls can be transferred to a live agent. This makes for a more efficient system in which live agents have more time to deal with complex interactions. The live agents need not deal with basic inquiries that require yes/no responses or obtaining standard customer information.